Police are defending their decision not to charge two of their own over allegations of poaching activity on a Central Otago farm.
It was confirmed yesterday police would not prosecute any members of a group, said to include two off-duty police officers, allegedly found spotlighting from a public road on to a Central Otago farm on January 21 this year.
Instead, the farmers at the centre of the claim have taken out trespass orders against the officers involved in the incident.
The farmer who reported catching the party in the act, who wishes to remain anonymous, has said the group included two out-of-town police officers.
He has also said one of the officers, when spoken to, admitted spotlighting on a nearby Department of Conservation block earlier the same evening.
Spotlighting on Doc blocks was illegal and a permit was required for all other hunting activity on conservation land.
The farmer’s claims prompted a joint investigation by police and Doc which has dragged on for months, as well as a flurry of complaints to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA).
Yesterday, in an emailed statement, acting Southern district commander Superintendent Lane Todd said there was "insufficient evidence" to prosecute anyone over the alleged spotlighting on the farmer’s property.
An investigation into the second allegation of spotlighting on Doc land was continuing, he confirmed.
Supt Todd would not be drawn on ‘‘specific details’’ relating to the investigation, including the identity of those involved.
The two officers were named yesterday by Shannon Parker, president of the New Zealand Police Conduct Association, an independent watchdog group — separate from the IPCA — created to help the public lay complaints against police.
They were Senior Constables Gary Donnelly, a dog handler, and Dougal Adams, a scene of crime officer, both of Christchurch, she said.
Snr Const Donnelly declined to comment when contacted by the Sunday Star-Times, while Snr Const Adams would only tell the newspaper: "We were just driving home; that’s all I’ve got to say."
Yesterday, Ms Parker said the officers’ guilt or innocence should have been "a decision for the courts" and police were acting inconsistently.
"Confidence in the district’s police is going to take a hit amongst residents and local farmers with this decision not to prosecute their own.
"Police have been taking a hard-nosed approach to poaching in the Southern district. It is a shame and disappointing they haven’t taken the same approach when their staff are caught doing the same."
Supt Todd said poaching, and the risk to life it posed, were taken "very seriously" by police, "who will investigate when these matters are brought to our attention".
Prosecutions would be taken "where appropriate" and "where the circumstances and evidence supports such a decision".
In this case, police had undertaken a detailed investigation, including seeking legal advice from Crown Law, but found the evidence was insufficient to warrant a prosecution.
Ms Parker, of Whangarei, is among those to have filed a complaint to the IPCA questioning the police investigation.
A second complaint, has been filed by Stephen Brown, the neighbour of the farmer who first made the claims against the group’s activities.
Ms Parker released a copy of his complaint.
In it, Mr Brown told the IPCA he had also reported the poaching party — believed to include the two off-duty police officers — after seeing them spotlighting as well.
While charges had not been laid in that case, an "identical" poaching incident that occurred on his property just weeks later had resulted in the offender being placed before the courts within two weeks, he said.
"Police appear to have a ‘double standards’ approach when it comes to prosecuting poachers, considering no charges have been laid in relation to these officers," he said.
